1.2 The Moon Flashcards
What’s the diameter of the moon
3500km
What’s the distance from Earth to the moon
Average 380,000km
What’s the moons orbital and rotational period?
27.3 days
How long and what is a lunar month?
29.5days and its how long it takes the moon to go through all the phases it’s takes longer Becuase 2.2 days are needed for the earth sun and moon to align and restart the phases
What are rilles?
Narrow channel like depressions in the lunar seas that’s are believed to have been caused by lava flows
What are wrinkle ridges
Wrinkles been caused by the buckling of the lunar surface as a result of compressive forces within the cooling and contracting of lava forming ridges up to 100km long
What were the objectives of the Apollo space program.
Collect soil and rock for analysis
Deploy scientific experiments
Land the first human
What’s were ALSEPS objectives? (Apollo lunar surface experiments package)
Monitor structure of moons interior
Composition and pressure of lunar atmosphere
Intensity and direction of solar wind
Lunar dust
When roughly was the moon formed?
4.5billion years ago
How was the moon formed
Giant impact hypothesis
A Mars sized object referred to as Theia hit earth and a large amount of Theia and earths outer layers melted and merged and at the same time a huge amount of debris was thrown into orbit this material coalesced and cooled to become the moon
Why is the giant impact theory becoming widely accepted?
The isotopes of oxygen in moon rocks are identical to earths
Lack of water and volatile compounds - supports idea there was so much energy the water vaporised during formation
What are mascons?
A concentration of denser material below the surface of the moon which causes an increase of gravitational pull
What’s are domes
a type of shield volcano that is found on the surface of moon, they are typically formed by highly viscous, possibly silica-rich lava, erupting from localized vents followed by relatively slow cooling.
What are Maria?
Large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth’s Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions - seas
What are terrae?
. The lighter-colored regions on the Moon’s surface called terrae they are highlands and are the most ancient regions of the Moon. Terrae are pockmarked with countless craters. Highland or mountainous range on the moon
What are craters
Craters are scars on the lunar surface following millions of years of impacts by incoming chunks of matter from asteroids and comets.
What’s the far side of the moon like?
More cratered, there are less Maria and more terrae which is older so it’s had more time to be cratered
How were the lunar seas made
believed to be basaltic flood plains resulting from lava flows filling giant crater-like basins. They are thought to result from asteroids striking the surface of the moon and subsequent volcanism
Which areas of the moon are older
Terrae they are more cratered
Why does the moon have no/very little atmosphere
Moon is small so little gravity to hold on to atmosphere
Geologically dead - no significant processes to supply abundant gasses to supply an atmosphere
Moon close to sun so solar wind strips away any atmosphere
